1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a server system which has a function to send management information in response to a management information transmission order from an external manager as well as relates to a server which is a component of the server system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, server systems have a function to send various management information to external managers in response to orders from the external managers. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) are used widely as a means of implementing this function (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-215479).
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a basic system management method which employs SNMP.
Each of servers 6, 7, and 8 under management has an agent 2 which is equipped with an SNMP processing section 3, tree-structured MIB (Management Information Base) 4, and management information acquisition section 5. The SNMP processing section 3 accepts SNMP orders from a manager 1, identifies OIDs (Object Identifiers), and makes management information acquisition requests. The management information acquisition section 5 acquires individual pieces of management information and sets their values. When an information acquisition order is issued by the manager 1 to the SNMP processing section 3, the SNMP processing section 3 acquires the ordered information from the management information acquisition section 5 and returns a response to the manager 1. In such a system management method, individual pieces of management information are managed in a MIB 4.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a MIB tree.
Individual pieces of management information are called objects and can be identified by OIDs. The names of the branches in the tree in FIG. 2 represent objects and the OID of each object is given by a combination of numerals in parentheses. For example, the OID of an object called memory module in FIG. 2 is expressed as “.1.1.2”. The manager 1 can acquire and set values of desired objects using OIDs.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of a system management method which employs SNMP.
In management of multiple servers in a system, in addition to the method described with reference to FIG. 1, a configuration, in which a manager 1 can manage multiple servers 6, 7, and 8 collectively by accessing only a single management section (such as a server equipped with management functions) 10 as shown in FIG. 3, has been going mainstream recently. In this configuration, when an information acquisition order is issued by the manager 1 to a SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 as indicated by solid lines 12, management information is acquired from a management information acquisition section 5 of a predetermined server via a management information collecting section 11 according to an ordered OID. The acquired management information is passed to the manager 1 by the SNMP processing section 3 also via the management information collecting section 11. The method in which a management section manages servers in a system collectively is effective especially for a configuration, such as a blade server, which has a management section and multiple servers in a system and the management method shown in FIG. 3 is used widely in such a configuration. In the management method shown in FIG. 3, SNMP is used between the manager 1 and management section 10, but any protocol, such as IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface), can be used between the management section 10 and servers 6, 7, and 8.
Alternatively, SNMP may be used for information exchange between the manager 10 and servers 6, 7, and 8. This can be implemented using SNMP proxy functions which come standard on SNMP functions.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a system management method which uses SNMP for information exchange between a management section and servers. Only two servers 6 and 7 are shown here.
Referring to FIG. 4, the management section 10 and servers 6 and 7 each have an agent 2 which is equipped with an SNMP processing section 3, MIB 4, and management information acquisition section 5. Besides, the management section 10 is equipped with a SNMP proxy functional section 14. To use proxy functions, it is necessary to define objects in a MIB tree of the management section 10 in advance, allowing the manager 1 to identify the servers 6 and 7. Then, objects which identify the servers 6 and 7, IP addresses of the servers, and desired objects in the MIB trees defined in the servers should be defined in proxy settings. When the manager 1 gives an SNMP order to the agent 2 of the management section 10 using the OIDs of the objects which identify servers, the management section 10 can convert the OIDs according to the settings via the SNMP proxy functional section 14, transfer the SNMP order to the servers, and thereby acquire management information from the servers.
In this management configuration, as in the case of FIG. 3, the manager 1 can manage the servers 6 and 7 collectively via the management section 10 (route 16 indicated by solid lines). Besides, since an SNMP processing section 3 is provided on each of the servers 6 and 7, the manager 1 can also manage the servers 6 and 7 by accessing them directly (route 15 indicated by broken lines) as in the case of FIG. 1. In this way, with the configuration in FIG. 4, the manager 1 can manage the servers 6 and 7 via any of the two routes 15 and 16.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a MIB tree of the management section in the system configuration in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a MIB tree of the servers 6 and 7 in the system configuration in FIG. 4.
A concrete example of a method for acquiring management information via the two routes 15 and 16 is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.
In the configuration example of the MIB tree of the management section 10 in FIG. 4, objects “server A information” and “server B information” used to identify the servers are defined under “server information group” as shown in FIG. 5. A configuration example of a MIB tree of the servers 6 and 7 is defined as shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 4, the IP addresses of the management section 10 and servers 6 and 7 are given by expression (1).
                                          [                          Formula              ⁢                                                          ⁢              1                        ]                    ⁢                                          ⁢                                                                                          IP                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    address                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    of                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    management                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    section                                    =                                      10.10                    ⁢                    .10                    ⁢                    .1                                                                                                                                            IP                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    address                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    of                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    server                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    A                                    =                                      10.10                    ⁢                    .10                    ⁢                    .10                                                                                                                                            IP                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    address                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    of                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    server                    ⁢                                                                                  ⁢                    B                                    =                                      10.10                    ⁢                    .10                    ⁢                    .20                                                                                      }                            (        1        )            
For example, if SNMP proxy settings in the management section 10 are configured as shown in expressions (2) and (3), in the case of expression (2), an object (server A information) with an OID of “.1.2.2.1” in the MIB tree of the management section 10 is converted into an object (common server information) with an OID of “.1.2.2.100” in the MIB tree at an IP address of 10.10.10.10 (server 6). Similarly, in the case of expression (3), an object (server B information) with an OID of “.1.2.2.2” in the MIB tree of the management section 10 is converted into an object (common server information) with an OID of “.1.2.2.100” in the MIB tree at an IP address of 10.10.10.20 (server 7)
[Formula 2]proxy 10.10.10.10 .1.2.2.1 .1.2.2.100  (2)proxy 10.10.10.20 .1.2.2.2 .1.2.2.100  (3)
In such a case, if it is desired to acquire CPU information about the servers 6 and 7 via the agent 2 of the management section 10, if an snmp command such as the one given by expression (4) is executed by the manager 1 with respect to the SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10, the SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 makes a processing request to the SNMP proxy functional section 14 because it can be seen, by comparing the settings of expression (2) with the ordered OID, that proxying is required. With reference to settings of expression (2), the SNMP proxy functional section 14 converts “.1.2.2.1” in the OID into “.1.2.2.100” and returns the resulting OID to the SNMP processing section 3. The SNMP processing section 3 requests the SNMP processing section 3 of the server 6 whose IP address is 10.10.10.10 to acquire information. The SNMP processing section 3 of the server 6 acquires CPU information whose OID is “.1.2.2.100.2” from the management information acquisition section 5 and passes the acquired information to the manager 1 via the agent 2 of the management section 10. Similarly, by executing an snmp command such as the one given by expression (5), it is possible to acquire CPU information about the server 7 via the agent 2 of the management section 10.
[Formula 3]snmpget 10.10.10.1 .1.2.2.1.2  (4)snmpget 10.10.10.1 .1.2.2.2.2  (5)
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processes performed by the manager to acquire management information (MIB data) following the route 16 indicated by solid lines in FIG. 4.
The manager 1 gives an SNMP transmission order to the SNMP processing section 3 of the agent 2 of the management section 10 (step S101). Upon receiving the SNMP transmission order (step S102), the SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 judges whether the ordered OID requires proxy transfer (step S103). If it is found that proxy transfer is required, the SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 requests the SNMP proxy functional section 14 to convert the OID (step S104).
Incidentally, if the ordered OID does not require proxy transfer (see “OID group which does not require proxy transfer” in FIG. 5), meaning that management information in the management section is ordered to be transferred, the management information acquisition section 5 of the management section 10 acquires management information about the desired object in the management section 10 and sends it to the manager 1 via the SNMP processing section 3.
If the ordered OID requires proxy transfer (step S103), the SNMP proxy functional section 14 is requested to convert the OID (step S104). The SNMP proxy functional section 14 converts the OID with reference to the proxy settings of expressions (2) and (3) (step S105) and returns the converted OID to the SNMP processing section 3 (step S106). The SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 sends the converted OID to the destination of proxy transfer (server 6 or 7) together with a processing request (step S107). When the SNMP processing section 3 of the server 6 or 7 receives the processing request (step S108), the management information acquisition section 5 of the server acquires MIB data of the ordered OID (step S109). The SNMP processing section 3 of the server receives the MIB data from its own management information acquisition section 5 and sends it to the requesting management section 10 (step S110). The SNMP processing section 3 of the management section 10 receives the MIB data and passes it to the requesting SNMP proxy functional section 14 once (step S111), the SNMP proxy functional section 14 receives the MIB data and sends it to the requesting SNMP processing section 3 (step S112), the SNMP processing section 3 receives the MIB data and sends it to the requesting manager 1 (step S113), and the manager 1 receives the MIB data (step S114).
The description will be continued returning to FIG. 4.
To acquire CPU information by accessing the agent 2 of the server 6 directly, the manager 1 executes an snmp command such as the one given by expression (6) with respect to the SNMP processing section 3 of the server 6 and the SNMP processing section 3 acquires CPU information whose OID is “.1.2.2.100.2” from the management information acquisition section 5 and passes the acquired information to the manager 1. Similarly, by executing an snmp command such as the one given by expression (7), it is possible to acquire CPU information about the server 7 by accessing the agent 2 of the server 7 directly.
[Formula 4]snmpget 10.10.10.10 .1.2.2.100.2  (6)snmpget 10.10.10.20 .1.2.2.100.2  (7)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of processes performed by the manager 1 to acquire management information (MIB data) following the route 15 indicated by broken lines in FIG. 4.
When the manager 1 gives an SNMP transmission order, for example, to the server 7 (or the server 6) (step S201), the SNMP processing section 3 of the agent 2 of the server 7 receives the SNMP order (step S202), the management information acquisition section 5 of the agent 2 of the server 7 acquires MIB data of the ordered OID (step S203), the SNMP processing section 3 receives the MIB data acquired by the management information acquisition section 5 and sends it to the requesting manager 1 (step S204), and the manager 1 receives the MIB data (step S205).
In the prior art examples in which multiple servers in a system are managed centrally, with a configuration such as the one shown in FIG. 3, there is a problem in that since the manager can use only one route to acquire management information from servers, the manager cannot acquire management information if the management section goes down.
The above problem is solved if the manager uses two routes to acquire management information as shown in FIG. 4, but as can be seen by comparing expression (4) with expression (6) or by comparing expression (5) with expression (7), even when acquiring the same management information in the same server, the manager 1 must specify a different OID depending on which acquisition route is used (15 or 16), and thus MIB management information in the manager 1 becomes complicated with increases in the number of servers.